Turangi Tongariro Community Board wins top award

18 May 2015

Turangi Tongariro Community Board has won the Supreme Award at the Local Government New Zealand Best Practice Awards.

The awards were held at the annual community board conference in the Bay of Islands last week. They recognise excellence in the implementation of projects and initiatives at a local level.

The awards consist of three categories; leadership, enhancing communities and engaging communities. Turangi Tongariro Community Board won both the leadership category and the Supreme Award. The board was recognised for its community plan, with judges commenting that the board set itself tasks, identified members to carry them out and completed them.

Chairman Tangonui Kingi said he was thrilled the board was recognised for its efforts. I feel extremely privileged and proud to lead a board as dynamic and civic-minded as the one we have, he said. We really work hard to do the best we can for our community and it's great to be recognised for this.

Mr Kingi said it was great to come out on top while up against some much bigger boards.

It's definitely a win for the little guy, he said. I think we've got a wonderful, multi-talented, multi-cultural group of people, and that's incredibly important in representing the community. We've got a true community voice and that shines through in what we do.

As a prize for winning the award, the community board is able to have a Local Government New Zealand KnowHow workshop on the topic of its choice held in Turangi. These include topics such as strategy, leadership, critical thinking and a range of other subjects related to governance.

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Taupo District Council

www.taupo.govt.nz